Consider Meaningful Tax Rebates Instead Of `No Sales Tax Days' Plan

EDITORIALS

April 15, 1998

Awash in money and not accustomed to it, Florida legislators are playing around with extra cash as if they were clones of John D. Rockefeller, handing out dimes on the street. So far the munificent legislators are greatly outdoing old John D. with their plan to give $100 million in tax incentives, mainly to corporations and investors, and they may go higher.

Now legislators' attention has shifted to Floridians generally, meaning voters, and to the poor. Sen. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, suggested giving $100 to every Florida household.

Other legislators have proposed variants on a plan to eliminate sales taxes for a few days on clothing purchases. House Speaker Daniel Webster, R-Orlando, would set aside a week in August when clothing purchases under $25 would be exempt from sales tax, and a few days in January when the tax exemption would apply to clothing priced at less than $50.

Perhaps that approach would work, allowing buyers to save 6 cents on the dollar while cutting into the state's revenue with the loss of some $6 million a day in lost sales taxes. In South Florida, the 6 percent saving could be added to the usual array of sales offering deep price cuts; the exemption could be used by affluent Floridians who might buy many pieces of modestly priced clothing, one at a time, to get the tax break.

Although a temporary sales-tax exemption might well be popular, and obviously wouldn't hurt the Republicans' chances in this fall's elections, it may not be the best and most long-lasting way to help the state's poor. Webster wants to return a total of $25 million to Floridians, and if other legislators agree generally with him, it's time for more creative thinking.

What would be an effective, long-lasting way to allocate that much money? Should it be used to build new schools? Set up scholarships for deserving students who might not otherwise get to college?

Improve drug prevention and treatment for young people? Spotlight three or four downtrodden neighborhoods in various parts of the state and revitalize them?

Shopping days meant to give the working poor a break on school clothes for their children have a degree of attractiveness. The timing of Webster's first week of tax-free clothing, in August, certainly is meant to coincide with the start of school _ and the primary election on Sept. 1 must be merely a happy coincidence for Republicans.

If the GOP majority in the legislature is committed to giving back $25 million, why not be creative? Why not consider other ideas, to leave something permanent to help Floridians?